Up to speed: Hedger Chassis moves to head of class in SBS division

Six weeks into the “Road to the Championship” for the Pathfinder Bank SBS, a total of 31 different drivers have scored points in what has become one of the most competitive fields in recent memory.

After a half dozen races, the top twenty drivers in the current championship standings sit behind the wheel of either a Hedger Racing Chassis or an FFB Chassis, with the Hedger gang currently holding the front five positions in the title hunt.

Throughout the years, and especially in recent history, the Hedger Chassis and FFB Chassis have become the prominent racecars in the SBS division at Oswego Speedway.

Currently, of the top 20 drivers in the standings, 12 are sporting an FFB Chassis, while eight pilot a machine built by Hedger.

In what has turned into a storied chassis rivalry, Hedger currently holds the edge with Russ Brown, defending champion Kreig Heroth, two-time feature winner Dalton Doyle, Tony White Memorial winner Jason Simmons, and JJ Andrews leading the way in the yearlong race for the title.

Brown has yet to win a feature event behind the wheel of the No. 13 but does hold a 13-point advantage on Heroth in the standings.

With four top-five finishes so far this season, Brown leads the way in the category, coupled with a total of five top ten finishes in six starts.

Eyeing a record-breaking fifth SBS championship at Oswego Speedway, Brown looks to continue to hold court not only over his FFB combatants, but also his Hedger team members.

Heroth is moving through 2013 much the same as 2012: slow and steady. The only driver with a top 10 finish in every feature event this season, Heroth has just one top five, coming in the year’s most recent event on June 15.

With two qualifying heat race wins on the season in the Won4Racing No. 04, Heroth is likely sitting right where he wants to be heading into the summer stretch run of the season.

Catapulting to third in the standings with two consecutive main event wins is the driver of the No. 01, Dalton Doyle.

Doyle inherited the lead of the June 1 make-up main run on June 15 after Anthony Losurdo and Josh Kerr tangled, giving him a clear path to victory just one week after leading every lap to earn his first career win on June 8.

The former Oswego Kartway pilot holds a 10-point edge on the other Hedger Chassis driver to reach victory lane this season, Jason Simmons.

After several years of trying, Simmons finally reached Oswego victory lane back May 25 in the Tony White Memorial. With a feature win, two top-five finishes, and four top ten runs, Simmons is the next Hedger in line riding fourth in the point standings currently 31-markers out of the championship lead.

Trailing Simmons by only three points is his Team Tapout Racing teammate JJ Andrews in the No. 93.

A longtime pilot of Hedger racecars, Andrews rounds out the manufacture’s top five stranglehold with a total of three top-five finishes to start the year.

Consecutive podium finishes in the month of June has Andrews in prime position to continue his climb toward the top of the standings.

The sixth position is where the first FFB Chassis can be found as Mike Bond saw a recent free fall in the standings after a rough evening June 15 driving the Four Sevens Motorsports No. 74.

Riding as high as second in the standings this season, Bond had rear end issues with his machine in the second feature two weeks ago, resulting in a dismal 24th place finish.

Now, despite two top-five finishes and four top ten runs, Bond sits four points out of the top five and a total of 38-points behind Brown.

Another FFB Chassis trails Bond in seventh with Rob Pullen only four points back in the No. 2. Pullen has the most top five finishes of any FFB racer with three, but has failed to finish in the top ten in the other three events this season.

Arguably the most consistent of the FFB regulars in 2013 has been Tesoriero in the No. 47. Well on his way to most improved driver of the season, Tesoriero has five top-ten finishes in six starts, more than any other driver in the FFB camp.

Coupled with two top five finishes on the year, only a lowly 20th place finish on June 15 has kept Tesoriero down in the standings. In that event, Tesoriero climbed behind the wheel of the Dennis Rupert No. 99 in the eleventh hour, after the No. 47 was damaged beyond immediate repair in a heat racing incident.

With a total of eight races remaining, the Pathfinder Bank SBS “Road to the Championship” is still wide open with a list of unknowns ahead.